Fulbright Experience in Thailand
"My time in Thailand has been amazing! Several of my colleagues at The National Institute for Child and Family Development at Mahidol University have told me that I have had more cultural experiences in the past three weeks than they have had since they have lived in Nakhon Pathom Province! This is due, in large part, to the Deputy Director sending an invitation to her staff to sign up to get to know me by taking me to various cultural/religious sites on the weekends and evenings. I have enjoyed associating with my colleagues (and their families) doing things like playing on the faculty/staff volleyball team, eating together, visiting Thai temples, going kayaking, taking a bike tour of the campus, visiting campus museums, and marching in the University Sports Day Parade.
The Deputy Director has asked me to learn about the Thai educational system by teaching three different classes to preschoolers – one class is for homeless children and the other two are for children of faculty/staff and community members. These first few weeks building trusting relationships have laid a foundation where I can now go into classrooms to help teachers and their students include peers with disabilities in general education classrooms, and to conduct research with families raising children with autism. We will be studying the effects of mindfulness/meditation training and practice (within the Thai culture/religion) on the stress, anxiety, and depression of parents raising children with autism. I have also made myself available for research consultations, helping professors and graduate students by providing feedback on their research proposals, designs, and manuscripts.
It has been incredible for me to be here in Thailand as a Fulbright Scholar. I was a missionary here (in the same province) 40 years ago, and am astounded by the many changes I have seen in the country. One of the most heartwarming changes I have seen is in the strength of the church members. In Relief Society last Sunday my heart was filled with joy as the sweet sisters shared their testimonies of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His ability to comfort and heal us in our trials. Forty years ago we didn’t even have a Relief Society in this province because the branch was so small (and church was held in our living room). Then when I learned my former branch president was in the ward I was visiting, I couldn’t believe it. First, because not many people from that long ago have stayed in the church, and second, because he lived in a different city then. Being him and his wife again was a blessed experience."
